Question of the Day

Whose side of the story do you believe?

TRENTON, N.J. — The man who claims Gov. James E. McGreevey sexually harassed him was pushing for a cash settlement of up to $50 million before the governor decided to announce that he was gay and had an extramarital affair.

Golan Cipel’s demands also included a last-minute push to have Mr. McGreevey’s administration approve development plans for a private medical college in the state, two senior members of the McGreevey administration said yesterday.

Mr. McGreevey’s lawyer refused to negotiate, one of the sources said, and rejected repeated offers to pay cash to avoid a lawsuit that would detail the governor’s relationship with Mr. Cipel, a former campaign aide whose appointment as a homeland security adviser with little experience provoked a major political controversy for the governor.

Mr. Cipel’s lawyer first contacted Mr. McGreevey on July 23, asking for $50 million, one of the administration sources said. More offers were made, and the price dropped.

Eventually that figure dropped to $5 million, both sources said, and the offers to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit continued Thursday afternoon, just as Mr. McGreevey made up his mind to declare his homosexuality and admit to an extramarital affair with a man.

The FBI is investigating whether a former employee tried to blackmail the governor, said law enforcement sources.

Twin delivers 2 sets of identical twins

WYNNEWOOD, Pa. — The odds of a fraternal twin giving birth to two sets of identical twins may be one in a million, but Geana Morris can attest to it. She delivered the quadruplets — two boys and two girls — on her 34th birthday at Lankenau Hospital. Mom and babies were doing well, hospital officials said Friday.

“It’s a very special ‘birth’ day for me,” said Mrs. Morris, herself a fraternal twin.

Mrs. Morris was implanted with two embryos in January, with the hope of carrying one to term. She and her husband, Kurt, also have a 2-year-old son. Dr. Andrew Gerson, who delivered the babies, put the odds of such an occurrence at about one in 1 million quadruplet births.

Each of the newborns weighed between 2 pounds and 3 pounds. Doctors hope the babies can be sent to their suburban Philadelphia home by the end of September, about a month before their mother’s due date.

Hypodermic needles wash up on beach

SEATTLE — A Seattle beach was closed this week when the tide carried in at least 200 hypodermic needles. KOMO-TV reports that children picked up some of the needles at the beach in West Seattle on Thursday afternoon.

The King County Health Department closed the beach. Police officers and firefighters picked up 200 needles.

Invitations to Clinton library opening mailed

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Two sets of invitations — one fancier, the other for donors — are being sent out for the Nov. 18 grand opening of the Clinton presidential library. One set of 15,000 to 20,000 cards bearing a gold Clinton Presidential Center seal began going out to foreign dignitaries and former presidents and first ladies last week.

Others receiving the fancy cards include former Clinton White House staff, about 1,500 construction workers from the $165 million library project, and representatives of other presidential libraries and foundations.

Another 105,000 to 110,000 invitations will be sent to people who have committed donations to Clinton’s nonprofit foundation for construction of the Clinton library.

Those smaller invitations — on lighter-bond paper and without the gold seal — do not include New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name as hostess of the event, to avoid the appearance of a conflict-of-interest with Senate fund-raising rules.

Flesh-eating bacteria kills Houston dentist

HOUSTON — A man has died from flesh-eating bacteria that entered his body through a minor cut on his leg.

Dr. Kenneth Dean Creamer, 52, died late Thursday in a Victoria, Texas, hospital where he had been treated since July 17, two days after he was exposed to the saltwater bacteria vibrio vulnificus.

A Houston dentist, Dr. Creamer apparently hurt himself July 15 when he slipped on a dock during a fishing trip. Within days, both of his legs had to be amputated, and he went into a coma, a hospital spokeswoman told the Houston Chronicle.

His is the seventh vibrio-related death in Texas this year, according to the Texas Department of Health. The federal Centers for Disease Control said a typical year brings 16 vibrio-related deaths in the Gulf Coast states.